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Two former Parramatta Eels players are accused of harbouring semi-automatic weapons and possessing more than half-a-million dollars in cash after dramatic arrests in Sydney's Centennial Park yesterday.

Police 'confusion' over Lindt café assault plan

The lawyer for the family of slain Sydney siege hostage Tori Johnson has suggested the trigger-point to storm the Lindt Cafe was set so high that police were effectively waiting for someone to be killed or seriously injured before taking emergency action.

The charge, levelled on Wednesday afternoon as the tactical commander during the December 2014 siege in Martin Place gave evidence at the inquest into the stand-off, came after it was also revealed a fellow Tactical Operations Unit officer deployed on the night was working on the assumption there were no triggers at all.

Police stormed the Martin Place building at 2.13am on December 16, more than 17 hours after the siege began, when gunman Man Haron Monis executed Mr Johnson, the manager of the cafe.

But counsel for the Johnson family, Gabrielle Bashir SC, has suggested to the officer who was the tactical commander throughout the operation that police ignored a number of earlier opportunities to initiate the so-called Emergency Action plan, and assault the cafe.

The triggers for the EA included death or serious injury to a hostage, or imminent death or serious injury.

Despite Monis firing a shot at fleeing hostages at 2.03am, police did not enter the cafe.

They also failed to enter when Mr Johnson was observed later falling to his knees with his hands behind his head, with previous evidence that commanders in charge of the operation were not informed of the crucial development.

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Police commanders were also not aware Monis fired a second shot at 2.11am, the inquest had previously heard.

"It's the case isn't it that the real reason you didn't order entry earlier is there was no other trigger point than death or serious injury to a hostage on that night," Ms Bashir asked the tactical commander on Wednesday.

"No. That's not correct," he replied.

Ms Bashir: "I suggest to you the trigger was set so high or enforced at such high levels as to require either death or serious injury to a hostage before" police would react.

The tactical commander, who was one of three senior police officers who could have ordered the storming of the cafe, also rejected that suggestion, as well as another from Ms Bashir that hostages who escaped between 2.03am and 2.11am were "running for their lives" and were in "mortal danger".

"I don't believe they were in mortal danger but they were in danger," he replied.

It has also emerged there was confusion among some police about the triggers, with a statement from the leader of a TOU team deployed outside the cafe revealing he believed his unit was not to storm the building, even if a hostage was killed.

The officer, who was the leader of the TOU's "Charlie" team, is yet to appear at the inquest.

"I spoke to (the deputy tactical commander) ... and asked him what the triggers were. He said there were none," the officer said in his statement given after the siege.

"So I said 'if he executes a hostage we're not going'? He said 'no, no the call has got to come from higher up'."

Asked by Michael O'Connell SC, counsel for the family of Katrina Dawson, whether the officer had the correct understanding of the "pre-determined" triggers, the tactical commander appearing on Wednesday replied that it "doesn't appear that he has an understanding of that".